Hello all. I've decided that rather than starting a new thread every time I want to share a few pictures of a ride, I will just post them in this thread. There will probably be nothing spectacular posted here. I am no great adventurerer (yet). The title of the thread pretty much sums it up. I will use this for posting pictures of things that strike my fancy around where I live in Wisconsin.

Kicking it off with today's short ride after work.
Enjoy.

Rode to the Tower Ridge Recreational Area north of Eau Claire. Didn't have the 3$ entry fee so kept riding. Oh well maybe another day. Stopped for dinner (gas station sandwich) on the bank of this river I don't know the name of. It was moving real fast.

Here is the bike waiting for me to finish eating.

After maybe 2 miles of pretty deluxe twisty roads, I came to this road.

I couldn't help myself. I followed it for about a mile. It was terribly sandy, and logging vehicles left deep ruts everywhere.

I crossed this neat old bridge.

It was much more decrepit than the pictures would have you believe. It was heaved something terrible and leaned strongly to one side. Neat.

View from the bridge.

This is where I turned around.

I also followed some power line trails for a while, but was too busy trying not to fall over in the sand to take pictures.

I see the "Road Closed" sign was trying to hide behind some bushes and beckoning for you to investigate! Giggle. When one see's a road closed sign (which doesn't say why it's closed), of course one must ride and find out. You know, so you can be "helpful" and inform others, so they can avoid a certain death, or even worse.

Only stayed for about half an hour before I got bored and packed up because I heard the bike calling me. Looks like a good fishing spot. I just chose a poor time of day (noonish). Better luck next time.

Not a great deal of adventure going on lately. Just commuting to work and back each day.

Friday I got the idea in my head to take an overnight trip. I got off of work and the planning began. I pulled out a map of Wisconsin, and my eyes were drawn north to Lake Superior. I lived in Duluth, MN for a short while and I've had a hanckerin' to see the big lake again. I decided the Apostle Islands looked like as good a destination as any. The plan was to leave Saturday morning, stay overnight on Madeline Island, and arrive home sometime in the afternoon on Sunday.

Loaded the bike up with camping and fishing gear Friday night, and in the morning I was ready to hit the road.

Sadly, I took the highway the whole 3 hours to Bayfield, and only stopped once to stretch, so I have no neat pictures to share of the trip there.

Here is Bayfield, WI where I hoped to catch a ferry to Madeline Island.

I had no idea what the ferry schedule was, but arrived just as one was preparing to leave. I paid 14$, drove onto the ferry, and as soon as I got off the bike the ferry began to pull away from the dock. Excellent timing.

The ferry dropped us off here. I was last on the ferry, and first to leave. Sometimes things just work out nicely.

I wanted to get camp set up before exploring the island so I drove strait through the town of La Pointe, across the island, to Big Bay State Park. There were a good number of camps available here, but they were a little too ritzy for my taste. So down the road I went to Big Bay Town Park. The camps here were more my style.

And voila we have camp

The stream running just behind my tent

View from other side of stream

My view for the past 3.5 hours

Exploring the park I came upon this lagoon. Oh so pretty.

The bridge over said lagoon

There was a large northern pike in the middle of the channel on the far side of the bridge. "Why I've come prepared for just this" I thought to myself as I pulled out my handy dandy fishing rod. After only a few casts my reel disintegrated in my hands. So much for fishing. Oh well, there is much to see and do here.

View of Superior from the bridge

Superior

The beach soon to be packed with people

I walked down the beach for a few miles and got a splendid sunburn on my arms. The water was incredibly clear. It also happened to be very cold, so no swimming on this trip.

My feet appreciated the cold water after enduring the hot sand

A short way up from the beach this delightful boardwalk followed the lake shore

I made my way back to the bike and decided to drive around the whole island. About half of it was perfect paved roads, and the other half gravel. This road followed the shore closely offering a great view.

I had to give it everything I had to keep my eyes on the road.

A few miles from camp I found this small beach

Where I was greeted with more crystal clear water, and another fine opportunity to dunk my feet.

This is also where the road turned to gravel

The gravel took me all the way around the other side of the island, and back to town.

I got groceries here

And decided it was finally time to fuel up as I was getting dangerously low. Now where is there a gas station...hmm...Drove all the way through town and did not see any stations. Stopped back at the store and asked where I could get fuel. They pointed me to the station.

Oh good I can get fuel and be on my way...

Nope. Station is closed. Ended up driving to the marina where they sold me some fuel

Made my way back to camp to make some dinner

Ramen. There is really not much more to say about it.

This fellow was eyeballing my food awful hard

Went back down to the beach to explore in the other direction

It was very rocky

Made for some good climbing

Headed to camp to buy firewood and unpack a little more. Took no pictures of the festivities.

As it got darker I went to the beach again. Shot of the lagoon

The moon

Someone had dug this up and carved, what I can only assume to be some sort of secret message to me, into it

In the morning I woke to the sun shining and birds chirping next to a quiet stream. Life is good.

Made some instant coffee, packed up camp, and headed across the island to town.

Was about 15 minutes early for the ferry this time.

My steed waiting its turn to board the ferry

Pictures waiting for the ferry

Here it comes

On the ferry

Back to Bayfield

Unloading went off without a hitch, and I made my way out of town and down the coast. Decided to stop in Ashland on my way.

View of superior from Ashland
The pier you see in the far right of the picture intrigued me so I went for a closer look

From the visit Ashland website:

"Construction of the Ore Dock began in 1916. Originally it was 900 feet long. In 1925 an addition was completed bringing the dock to its present length of 1800 feet. It is 80 feet high, 59 feet wide and the largest concrete structure of its kind. Iron-ore mined in the Upper Penninsula of Michigan was shipped from this dock. The shipping ended in the mid 1960s. At one time there were five such docks in Ashland."

Neat

This pier also appeared out of commission

The water here was not so clear

This was my last interesting stop before I hit the highway and headed for home. A little over 400 miles in total. Trip cost less than 100$. Not a bad way to spend a weekend.